In the long river of Chinese history, Chang'an is a term that can never be read but cannot be ignored, in this place that has nourished the Chinese nation for thousands of years, there was a wedding that should not be underestimated by the world.
On the eighth day of the third month of 568, the weather in Chang'an had not yet warmed up, and a large-scale wedding livened up the streets and alleys of Chang'an. The protagonist of this wedding is Emperor Wu of the Northern Zhou Dynasty Yuwen Yong, and the bride he is about to marry is the pearl of the Turkic wooden pole Khan Ashina Jin - Princess Ashina.
This was a national alliance that came together due to political necessity, and it was a national alliance of the Northern Zhou regime that attempted to rely on the powerful power of the Turks to oppose the Northern Qi regime.
Therefore, the Northern Zhou Dynasty had great expectations for this wedding, and they did not hesitate to spend three years or more to travel thousands of miles to the northern grasslands to marry Princess Ashina, the Turkic Wooden Pole Khan.
Now, this wedding with a national alliance is complete, and the specifications of the wedding have naturally risen to the level of national celebration. At this time, Chang'an City is full of lights, gongs and drums, and it is very lively.
The profit-oriented merchants also stopped doing business for the time being, the industrious and hard-working small workshops also stopped for the time being, the simple and kind citizens sang and danced, and the princes who returned to the subordinate came from thousands of miles to congratulate them.
Surrounded by the people who carnivaled in the whole city, the groom Yuwen Yong played the pipa, the bride Ashina danced, and the more than 300 people who married with the Western Regions were dressed in wind, and the atmosphere of the desert was filled with singing and dancing, and the fragrance dyed the whole Chang'an City drunk.
Politically, he was a far-sighted, diligent and loving monarch, and in life, he was a talented, affectionate, and suave young man.
Like more men in love, he had already thought of the woman in the northern steppe, the Turkic woman whose appearance and charm were unparalleled in the world, the woman who was proficient in music and had a good manners, and the woman who the monarchs of the Western Regions competed to pursue.
Yu Wenyong, who couldn't bear the pain of lovesickness, couldn't wait to send envoys from the court and China to carry valuable dowry gifts, go west out of Chang'an, pass through Yangguan, propose to the Turkic wooden pole khan, and ask the Turkic khan to marry his third princess, Princess Ashina, as his queen.
That is, this vigorous Yuwen Yong, with his incomparable sincerity and strong patience, after several twists and turns, finally let the indecisive Turkic Khan make his final decision.
In 568, the twenty-three-year-old Yuwen Yong married the fifteen-year-old Princess Ashina. This is a marriage of talented and beautiful women, a marriage of strong alliances, an encounter between Qin Se and Ming, a bewitching beauty for thousands of years, and an amazement that nourishes Chinese civilization.
Princess Ashina, who loves music, brought her beloved Western Regions Music and Dance Brigade to Chang'an, which has a long history and developed culture, with their Western Regions musical instruments such as five-string pipa, zhugonghou, hafu and drum.
On the day of the wedding, the citizens of Chang'an City were immersed in the joyful singing and dancing, the five-string pipa played the ecstasy of Yuwenyong and the people to enjoy together, the Turkic dance rotated the beautiful melody of Princess Ashina's love for the desert, and the musicians Su Yipo (Bai Zhitong) and Bai Mingda, etc., who came with the marriage, led the Western Regions music and dance team members to the streets and alleys of Chang'an, and brought a large-scale professional performance to the people of Chang'an.
The rough and unrestrained and dynamic music and dance of the Western Regions opened the eyes of the people of Chang'an and was full of surprises. These made Yu Wenyong's heart unprecedentedly satisfied.
This is an amorous man immersed in happiness, and his obsession and contentment make him full of gratitude for his bride, and he wants to do his best to pamper and protect his bride, including her discomfort with the cumbersome rituals of the Han people.
However, after all, the beautiful ideal could not withstand the test of cruel reality, and after a short time, Yu Wenyong's dream was shattered.
The knife and axe hand that shattered the dream came from all aspects of the world around him, because after all, Ashina's body flowed with the blood of the grassland tribe, and the grassland tribe was too powerful at that time, if the grassland father and daughter joined forces to plot against the Northern Zhou, the Northern Zhou naturally had the possibility of being incorporated into the grassland tribe.
This political worry from the Northern Zhou Dynasty made Yu Wenyong's heart become restless. Facing his beloved queen, Yu Wenyong had unspeakable sorrow, and he had to alienate his queen intentionally or unintentionally.
Full of expectations, full of longing, full of thinking that from now on you have me, I have you, life is a harmonious song, and there is love. However, the candlelight of the wedding flickered the intimacy of the palace, and the smell of smell weighed the concentration of blood.
Yuwen Yong's eyes at Ashina became the end of the world, and Ashina's eyes at Yuwen Yong became the end of the world. The two of them are living individuals, and they have become a foot that you respect me, and I respect you.
In this foot and zhang, there are two fiery hearts, measuring the distance between their marriage. The marriage of Yuwenyong and Princess Ashina is also like the vigorous spring buds, after passing the summer fever and rushing to the beauty of autumn, it has gone to the long-term silence of winter storage.
The night is long, and the lights are shadowy. The rich and luxurious palace has no temperature, the enthusiasm of youth is gradually decreasing, and the amorous woman looks through her eyes, but she does not wait for the eagle galloping on the grassland.
Ashina, who was crowned the queen of the Northern Zhou Dynasty, couldn't afford to dance briskly. She could only hide in the darkness and let out a long sigh, stranding the gloomy sadness in her heart.
A dull sound of iron doors closed the door to the end of the world. The queen's laurel dazzled the sky over Chang'an, becoming the dream of every woman who can sing and dance, however, the queen's laurel is too heavy, restraining the romantic feelings of every knowledgeable woman, especially for a princess who once galloped on the grassland, all her youthful enthusiasm will be lost under this golden laurel.
Yu Wenyong's niece Dou Shi, the wife of Li Yuan, the founding emperor of the Tang Dynasty and the mother of Li Shimin, was only six or seven years old at the time, but she used her ice and snow intelligence beyond her years to give her uncle Yu Wenyong an insightful political lesson: "The Quartet has not yet been pacified, and the Turks are strong, may my uncle suppress his feelings and comfort him, and think of the common people in the world." It is also necessary to rely on the power of the Turks, so Jiangnan and Kanto cannot be troubled. ”
This is a note from a little girl in the Northern Zhou royal family to Queen Ashina to visit the Northern Zhou Palace, and it is also a political bargaining chip related to whether Queen Ashina's marriage is happy.
Yu Wenyong naturally understood in his heart, for the sake of the splendid future of the Northern Zhou Dynasty, Yu Wenyong decided to sacrifice his personal feelings, and did not dare to snub Queen Ashina anymore, and began to respect each other between their husband and wife.
After the victory of the Northern Zhou regime, the aspiring Yu Wenyong began to implement a series of political reforms, among which the reform of the ritual system was also one of his many reforms.
With the assistance of the talented Empress Ashina and the great musician Su Yipo of Qiuzi, Yu Wenyong carried out some reforms in the music of the Central Plains and perfected the theory of ancient Chinese music palace tunes.
For example, in the formulation of court music, Yuwen Yong adopted the policy of "Ronghua and Collection" that combined the music of the Western Regions and the Central Plains, and abandoned the nude and degrading dregs such as naked foot jumping and splashing water and mud in the begging dance of the Western Regions, and created rough and elegant, unrestrained and delicate music, which prospered the culture of Chang'an.
Princess Ashina has a special fondness for Qiuzi singing and dancing, she is very good-natured, and often organizes performances of famous Qiuzi dances such as "Hu Xuan Dance" and "Su Mosha", which is refreshing.
In particular, the music and dance of the renovated "Su Mosha" are deeply loved by all walks of life in Chang'an and other Central Plains regions, so they are famous and popular in Chang'an and other Central Plains areas.
The music and dance of the turtle is therefore respected as the national trick of the Northern Zhou Dynasty, and it is called the three parts together with the Qi Dynasty Qiuci that prevailed in the Northern Qi Dynasty and the soil turtle brought by Yang Jian of the Sui Dynasty, which is famous all over the world.
During the Sui and Tang dynasties, Su Yipo cooperated with musicians from the Central Plains to create a unique music system of the Chinese nation, such as Qiuzi music and dance, which laid the foundation for Chinese classical music.
These wonderful music and dances of the Central Plains have spread to all countries in the world with the return of Tang envoys and other overseas students, and have become a proud spiritual wealth in the history of Chinese national music. These, of course, are a later story.
In 577, the Northern Zhou Dynasty destroyed the Northern Qi Dynasty and captured alive the emperor Gao Wei of the Northern Qi Dynasty, known as the "Son of Worry-free Heaven". This Gao Wei, as the lord of a country, has no way to govern the country, but his musical attainments are quite high.
At the celebration banquet of the Northern Zhou Dynasty, the high-spirited Yu Wenyong, holding the five-string pipa, played the Western Regions dance song "Su Mosha". The familiar and cheerful dance music, across the long sky, flew into the hometown of Ashina's heart, she danced with the music, swaying gracefully, like snowflakes in the air, like the fluffy grass in the wind, hiding the sorrow and joy of personnel in the sky.
Unexpectedly, this kind of music and dance that tempted the soul made Gao Wei, the queen of the Northern Qi Dynasty, who loved the music of the Western Regions, empty physically and mentally, and couldn't care about the embarrassing situation that he had become a prisoner, and thought that he was on the dragon couch.
Gao Wei, the queen of the Northern Qi Dynasty, who was obsessed with "Su Mo Sha", his funny incident will eventually leave a ridiculous handle on history.
On the first day of June in the first year of Xuanzheng, Yu Wenyong died. This Yu Wenyong, who restrained his personal emotions, for the sake of the great country of the Northern Zhou Dynasty, he lived with his queen Princess Ashina for nine years, and did not leave one of their sons and a half daughter to Queen Ashina.
On the second day of June of this year, Yuwenyong and his concubine Li Ezi gave birth to their son Yuwenyun ascended the throne, that is, Emperor Xuan of the Northern Zhou Dynasty, and the new emperor honored his mother-in-law Ashina as the queen mother.
In another year, Emperor Xuan of the Northern Zhou Dynasty passed on the throne to his eldest son Yuwen Yun, that is, Emperor Jing of the Northern Zhou Dynasty, who proclaimed himself Emperor Tianyuan, respected the Empress Dowager Ashina as the Empress Dowager of Tianyuan, and in the edict, he strongly praised the etiquette and kindness of the Empress Dowager Ashina.
Three months later, Yu Wenyun died of illness, and Ashina rose to a higher level in seniority and became the empress dowager.
In February 581, Yang Jian ended the Northern Zhou regime and established the Sui Dynasty. In the second year, Princess Ashina also completed her thirty-two spring and autumn seasons. Emperor Wen of Sui Emperor Yang Jian ordered the government to prepare a book of rites and bury her in the filial piety mausoleum, and the tomb of Yuwen Yong.
Princess Ashina came from the steppe tribe and died at the beginning of the Sui Dynasty. In the history of China, she is respected for her tolerance and understanding of her husband, and in the history of Chinese music, her outstanding contributions to the music of the Central Plains are well known.
It can be said that Princess Ashina is a great woman with thoughts and insights, and she is the pride of the grassland people. However, who understands the sorrow hidden in the heart of Princess Ashina during the period of national chaos?